Kosovo and beyond: all Turkey’s moves with Baykar’s drones
Kosovo has become the latest country to acquire the Bayraktar TB2 attack drones, manufactured by the Turkish company Baykar. All the details
After having sold its deadly Bayraktar TB2 attack drones to about thirty countries around the world, the Turkish company Baykar has just delivered a certain number of them a few kilometers from our coasts, in that Kosovo crossed by strong tensions between the Albanian and Serbian ethnic components. Here are the details of the purchase and the latest moves of the company controlled by Erdogan's son-in-law in the global arms market.
Last stop: Kosovo
As reported by the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet , Kosovo has just become the latest country to acquire the Bayraktar TB2 attack drones, the powerful aerial vehicle produced by the Turkish company Baykar Technologies, which has stood out for its effectiveness and lethality in the battlefields of Ukraine, Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh.
Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti announced the news on his Facebook profile, where he posted a photo of himself together with the head of the security forces Bashkim Jashari and Defense Minister Armend Mehaj portrayed against the background of a Bayraktar specimen.
"Kosovo is now safer and prouder," Kurti wrote, without specifying the number of drones purchased or the financial details of the operation. Kurti also did not specify the type of use for the new drones, clarifying only that the purchase comes at the culmination of a period in which the armed forces of Kosovo have increased their ranks by 80% and the defense budget has been doubled.
The news comes at a time of particular tension for the Balkan country. Clashes between the Kosovar security forces and residents of Kosovar municipalities with a Serb majority who protested the inauguration of new mayors of Albanian ethnicity elected after a vote boycotted by the Serb component date back to last May.
At the time, big words flew between Kurti and the Serbian President Vucic, who in response mobilized the army, fearing the risk of an armed clash.
Baykar lands in Kuwait
It wasn't long ago that Baykar secured another very important order: the $367 million deal with Kuwait to sell them a number of Bayraktars.
As told by the Associated Press at the time, Kuwait's air force operations chief, Brigadier General Fahad al-Dosari, had posted a video on his Twitter profile in which he specified that the new fleet of drones would be used to support the navy and coast guard in maritime monitoring and border control operations.
Negotiated directly by the Kuwaiti government, the agreement with Baykar also provided for the supply of armaments, electronic warfare systems and other tools compatible with NATO standards, an element particularly attractive for a US partner such as Kuwait, which hosts over 13,000 American soldiers on its soil.
Baykar's moves in Ukraine
This is a period of intense vitality for Baykar, who has sold TB2s to about thirty countries around the world, thus becoming an absolute protagonist of the Turkish defense industry.
Now the company has long-term plans in the country that has used drones to repel the Russian advance. The announcement by the CEO Haluk Bayraktar dates back to October last year that he had begun construction works on a plant in Ukraine which will be managed by the local subsidiary Avia Ventures and which should open its doors in 2025.
"Much of the preparatory work has already been done, with the site already expected to start receiving electricity from July," the CEO said at the time.
The new production site project is the result of an agreement signed by the governments of Kiev and Ankara immediately after the outbreak of war to cooperate in the aerospace industry. The agreement guarantees a convenient tax regime and customs incentives for Turkish entrepreneurs interested in investing in the Ukrainian aerospace sector.
Through the same subsidiary that is building the new production plant, Baykar has further expanded its investments in Ukraine through the construction of a Center of Excellence in Unmanned Vehicle Technology, where, in addition to the Bayraktar, Akinci drones will be produced, with a total investment of nearly one hundred million dollars.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/turchia-droni-baykar-kosovo/ on Fri, 21 Jul 2023 06:56:15 +0000.